COVID-19: 13th August round-up for primary care
Staff risk assessments
We are grateful for those who have contributed data around completion of staff risk assessments. We want to ask any contractor who has not done so yet to do so and to emphasise again the importance of competing all risk assessments for staff as soon as possible.
Updated Community Pharmacy Standard Operating Procedure published
On 10 August, NHS England and NHS Improvement published an updated Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for community pharmacies in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic which came into immediate effect.
Now that public demand for pharmacy services has returned to normal levels, the flexible opening provision that allowed pharmacies to close their doors to the public for up to 2.5 hours a day has been removed from the SOP.
Regulatory provisions to enable contractors to make temporary adjustments to opening hours as an emergency measure as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak are still in place and require agreement with the local NHS England and NHS Improvement office.
Other updates include information about when and where a delivery service to shielded patients will be commissioned.
National Patient Safety Alert - Steroid Emergency Card to support early recognition and treatment of adrenal crisis in adults
A National Patient Safety Alert has been issued asking providers to ensure all eligible patients with adrenal insufficiency are issued with a Steroid Emergency Card; and that processes are put in place to check if a patient has a Steroid Emergency Card ahead of any emergency treatment, elective surgery, or other invasive procedures.
